Statement on CFRB 1010 [2008 election] (October 9, 2008)
My statement from Tuesday evening (Oct. 7th) on CFRB Radio:
My name is Alan Mercer and I’m running in Scarborough–Rouge River for the Libertarian Party.
In everyday life, we negotiate with other people and try to respect their autonomy and choices.
But when it comes to politics, people use government power – threats of prison and fines – to control others – how they use their money, their property and their bodies – what they can and can’t do with their lives.
One of the activities other people force us to pay for is the war in Afghanistan. If you have been following some of the reports from Afghanistan, you will hear about the large numbers of civilian deaths, many of which are caused by NATO airstrikes.
I don’t agree that I should fund death and destruction in Afghanistan with my taxes.
Thank you.
[end]
And coincidentally, I was encouraged to see this letter to the editor posted the next day on the Toronto Star’s website from a soldier, Corporal Paul Demetrick, opposing the war in Afghanistan:
“…But when I hear of things our troops have done in Afghanistan, I have to ask, “What kind of legacy do we wish to leave behind?” Some examples: we respond to hostile fire by indiscriminate bombing and shelling of villages, killing innocent men, women and children; we fire white phosphorus shells (a chemical weapon outlawed by the Geneva Conventions due to the horrific way it burns human beings) into vineyards where it was known Afghan insurgents were deployed; we hand over prisoners of war to Afghan authorities, who torture them; and we shoot and kill a 2-year-old Afghan boy and his 4-year-old
sister. …”
Please read the rest of his letter here.
October 9th, 2008
5 comments to Statement on CFRB 1010
October 10th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Paul Demetrick is a Reservist who has never been deployed to Afghanistan. His letter to the editor of the Star contains a mix of lies and statements about events taken completely out of context, not surprising for someone who was never there in the first place. He is a sad disgrace to the CF, his supposed “comrades-in-arms”, and to Canada.
October 11th, 2008 at 9:46 am
As Bloggins just stated, Cpl Demetrick a member of the British Columbia Dragoons has never deployed to Afghanistan. Canadian Soldiers have never used White Phosphorous against the Taliban/Insurgents. For one, we do not possess WP and second, it is against the Geneva Convention, a law of armed conflict we follow explicitly. Cpl Demetrick has sullen the name of those of us currently deployed (Myself included), those that have deployed and those that have not come home. Cpl Demetrick does not know his facts. Cpl Demetrick is also foolish if he believes Peace will magically come to the people of Afghanistan if NATO pulls out. He obviously has never read a history book written about the area and the atrocities the Taliban were responsible for during their time in power.
Furthermore the editor who published his letter should be fired for not checking his sources and allowing left wing rhetoric to influence an already out of touch and uninformed public.
A proud soldier IN Afghanistan.
October 11th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Here is a strange story by Reuters at msnbc where Canadian General Rick Hillier talks about using white phosphorous in Afghanistan to burn foliage:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15239501/ Reuters, Oct 12, 2006
“Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defense staff, said Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana.
“”The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy, heat very readily. It’s very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices … and as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don’t dodge in and out of those marijuana forests,” he said in a speech in Ottawa.
“”We tried burning them with white phosphorus — it didn’t work. We tried burning them with diesel — it didn’t work. The plants are so full of water right now … that we simply couldn’t burn them,” he said. …”
May 16th, 2009 at 7:58 am
Burning the plants … not people. Read it again in it’s proper context.
Army & Proud.
May 17th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
“MCpl Smith” said “we do not possess WP” and I produced a link contradicting that.
So what other “make-believe” stuff from me do you want to disprove today?
How about:
Canada doesn’t have an independent foreign policy. It pursues an imperial interventionist foreign policy.
Canada surrendered its sovereignty already to the U.S., U.N. and NATO.
We’re lied to by our governments.
The war on terror is a fraud. 9/11 was the ruling class’s “Pearl Harbor” as they anticipated in the Project for the New American Century report.
Young people are used as cannon fodder.
NATO troops are poisoned by depleted uranium and vaccine experimentation so they become no threat
Innocent people are constantly killed and weddings bombed repeatedly in Afghanistan.
Canadian forces serve the military industrial complex.
They are fighting for a socialist state, a totalitarian system that established an income tax, a central banking system and political correctness that attacks traditional institutions, just as was tested during the Soviet era.
They are fighting for a government that started destroying our civil liberties “to fight terror”, that is continuing to destroy our property rights and will follow its bosses down the road of destroying our freedom of speech as well.